Part I: Biography: Full Name: Nicholas Thomas Long Age: 52 Homestate: North Carolina Undergraduate Work: University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Graduate Work: Harvard University
Brief Background: Tom Long began his business pursuits at with his undergraduate education at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The university is located in his home stateof North Carolina. The university was a stepping stone in his life, yet is not one he has soon forgotten. Long is scheduled to give a free speech this coming Monday, October 10th to the business students and faculty. This is just one of the many things that Tom Long does to connect back to his roots. Long also holds a master’s degree in business from Harvard. His educational background makes him more than capable of running a prestigious company such as Miller-Coors, but it is his focus on community that has changed the face of the company. Long expresses his dedication to community by sitting on the Board of Directors of WolverineWorldwide, Milwaukee Boy & Girls Club of Milwaukee, and both the Chicagoland and Milwaukee Chambers of Commerce.
Tom Long has an extensive background before being named CEO of Miller-Coors. After Harvard, Long began his professional career with McCann-Erickson Advertising. His position there was rather short lived, and in 1988 he joined Coca-Cola in its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. He became a manager of market planning and after a few years he reached vice president of 7-Eleven Team Account Worldwide and shortly thereafter, Wal-Mart Global Team Account in 1995. Tom Long took on a number of positions and responsibilities in which he led Coke as a transnational organization. While at Coca-Cola, Long assumed Vice President of National Sales, Director of Marketing Research and Trends, and finally Vice President and Director of Strategic Marketing, where he ultimately handled Coke’s Global Brand Strategy. Following his success at Coca-Cola, Tom Long was adopted by Miller Brewing Company in 2005 as Chief Marketing Officer and then promoted to CEO from 2006 to 2008. After the joint venture between SABMiller and MolsonCoors, Long was President and Chief Commercial Officer before finally being named the new CEO of Miller-Coors Brewing Company
Personality: As CEO of MillerCoors, Tom Long is one of the most influential people in the company. Though most find higher positioned people unapproachable and hard to communicate with Tom Long expresses the exact opposite. His southern background and personable attitude make his employees enjoy working for someone like him. With his extensive background we can easily assume that he is a hard-working and intellectual man with a passion to succeed. His many years at Coca-Cola Co. offered MillerCoors an experienced and insightful man who has already started making big changes to the company and is constantly offering new ideas for improvement. In a news release one of Long's co-workers said that "he is a savvy operator with a keen intellect and boundless energy." Though Long is driven and clearly focused on his new job and postion, he also finds time for family and enjoying himself. He is family orientated and even thinks finding ways to improve our environement is important. When defining Tom Long's personality in terms of "The Big Five," one of the most obvious traits is conscientiousness. His new improvements to the company and plans for the future prove he is a hard-working individual and organized. Being such a huge figure in the company Long is also extremely dependable. He could be defined as an extraversion, as well. Many of his ideas and plans come from interaction with other people and he is assertive in order to see the outcomes he wants. Tom Long could also be described as an agreeable person due to the fact that he is warm and cooperative. Being a good CEO means that one must also listen to his fellow co-workers and employees in order to have a productive and enjoyable work place. His background and ability to create new ideas also shows that he is open to experience. Being part of the Baby Boomers generation begins to explain Tom Long's extreme work-ethic and his drive to make MillerCoors the best it can be.
Motivation: "The most satisfying wins are those driven by employees who find ways to make a real difference."
Tom Long expressed this idea in an interview with GreenBiz .com. This single quote shows that Long finds success and satisfaction in the idea that employees are responsible for their own work and understand that. He finds it important that employees are satisfied at their job and they get this through having their own responsibility not ordered by management but just lead in the right direction by them. Long sets expectations and from there allows his employees to use their own creative abilities and intelligence to accomplish things in the work environment. This way of motivation parallels McGregor's Theory Y. Long arranges conditions and methods of operation which then allows his employees and co-workers to then achieve their own personally set goals.
With Tom Long accepting the new position as CEO, MillerCoors is now in a period of rapid change and growth. His part in the expansion and growth of Coors Light and putting a hold on Miller Lite's decline has opened up a large amount of opportunities. This method of motivation can be reflected as "growth" in Alderfer's ERG theory and "self-actualization" in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. These are seen as opportunities to work with higher-ups or to work on projects that suit the individual's skills. With the future of MillerCoors looking as promising as it does, these ways of motivation will become more apparent and obvious as things continue to improve.
Leadership Style:
With Tom Long being recently introduced as MillerCoors CEO, he has not had that much time to express his leadership style with the company. Yet, with his short term thus far, he has changed the look of MillerCoors and many people are excited to see what the future holds. MillerCoors is one of the largest brewing companies in the US and continues to grow worldwide. With such a large company much is expected, Tom Long sees this as a challenge; he has been described as “A man who loves competition and the game of life”. This is extremely exciting for this company with a CEO that embraces challenges that arise and is constantly working through them as to improve the company. There are a lot of challenges in this economic downturn that the country is currently faced with, but MillerCoors is staying positive and trying to find new ways to connect with their consumers. Tom Long is the type of leader that is poised for growth; he has already shown this through the recent joint venture with Coors Brewing Co. of Golden, Colorado. He worked tirelessly to merge the two companies. Tom Long is described at times to be playing it a bit safe, but you cannot truly blame him in rough times like this. There has already been a change in the marketing scheme of Miller, with the ads that are more modern and give miller a different look than before. He has had extensive familiarity in the strategic marking world with Coca-Cola Company which is why he can be seen as being open to experience.
Tom exemplifies the Big 5 of the personality trait in his position at MillerCoors. He is creative and cultured and he is open to exploring new ideas as he is new to this job. Tom Long is also agreeable as in the way he is cooperative, warm, agreeable, and listens to employees’ opinions. He displays a relaxed attitude that has most likely been built from his southern background, which is evident in his southern twang that he displays when he talks, giving you a sense of his calm, self-confident and cool exterior. He displays this emotional stability which is needed in a time of confusion in the financial world, you must be patient and ride out the storm knowing that you might hit a few bumps along the way. Mr. Long shows high self-esteem and shows his positive influence on the company in his interviews. Tom Long also values sustainability in the company’s future as evident in the article from GreenBiz.com where he discusses plans for the future to make MillerCoors an eco friendly community. He says, “sustainability is important to our employees. Our company attracts young people (for employment) for whom sustainability is a passion point. Sustainability is also progressively more important to our consumer base. Tom Long leads with purpose and strength, and his future in MillerCoors appears to be an intriguing one. He brings a charismatic attitude that values everyone’s opinion and strives for a better tomorrow.
MillerCoors Past: MillerCoors began as two independent companies, Miller corporation and Coors Brewing. Both companies were started by german immigrants who came to the country and began brewing in the 19th century. Later, in 2008, the two companies merged to better compete with Anheuser Busch. In the pats MillerCoors has focused on building its core brands of Miller Lite, and Coors light, as well as its traditional brews.
In the 1970’s Miller corporation began marketing the calorie reduction, as well as the great taste. This policy was well received by consumers, as Miller choose to market the beer as something outside of a “diet beer”. Miller Lite is the company’s largest seller and is third in the beer market share rankings. It is through Miller Lite that Miller corporation was able to generate funds to market the rest of its lineup. (Baker, 2010)
Coors Light’s story is very similar to that of Miller Lite. Until 1978 Coors original was the only beer produced by the company. Then, in 1978 Coors Brewing Corporation introduced Coors Light, which was then called the “Silver Bullet”. It was through the popularity of the “Silver Bullet” that Coors Brewing was able to take off, and gain mainstream marketability. After the merger, Coors Light now ranks as the 4th most popular beer behind Miller Lite and both beers holding the Budweiser brand (Unknown, 1998).
Coors Brewing Company and Miller Company merged in 2008. South African owner SABMIller plc decided to merge the two companies. This did not mean one company was purchasing the other, but instead that both companies were becoming one company, MillerCoors. The breweries for both companies will remain open and Leo Kiely was named the original CEO. Kiely was known to have a keen eye for the beer industry and was seen as a positive leader. Tom long, who was then the COO of Miller Coors took the position eventually vacated by Kiely and is the current CEO of Miller Coors. (Daykin, 2007)
MillerCoors Future:
Tom Long takes of the throne of MillerCoors who’s mainstream beer industry has become slightly flat. Tom Long wants to prove that the mainstream beer industry can still be a popular thriving industry. Tom Long’s initiatives are to bring craft beer mainstream and become a leader in the segment, as well as focusing on the growth of its staple products such as Miller Lite, Craft beer has become a marketplace which no longer can be ignored by the brewery giants. MillerCoor’s craft beer lineup includes such well known names as Blue Moon, and Leinenkugel. MillerCoors and Tom long recently initiated the “Tenth and Blake, which serves as a dedicated division for its craft and imported brands” (York, 2011). This is especially important since craft beer has seen steady gains in the marketplace while national brewery chains have seen declines, especially in their core unit of young males. Tom Long in response to the current brewing climate stated that many of the brands currently available will not always be available.
"[There] will not always be thousands and thousands of tiny brands," Long said, referring to the 1,700 brewers in the U.S. today. "Big brands will emerge, and they already have: Sam Adams and Fat Tire and others. Certainly Blue Moon fits into that category."
MillerCoors hopes that through strategic purchases it will be positioned to maintain a strong hold in the craft beer category. MillerCoors also wants to maintain a focus on their core beers, specifically Miller Lite. While Coors Light has remained steady, Miller Lite has seen a decline. Tom Long stated that he would not be happy until Miller Lite begins to rebound and retake massive market share. To do this Long plans on keeping exciting packaging and news that will excite the consumer base, and drive up sales (SND, 2011).
Tom Long
Part III:
Part II:
Reference List:
Part I:
Biography:
Full Name: Nicholas Thomas Long
Age: 52
Homestate: North Carolina
Undergraduate Work: University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Graduate Work: Harvard University
Brief Background:
Tom Long began his business pursuits at with his undergraduate education at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The university is located in his home stateof North Carolina. The university was a stepping stone in his life, yet is not one he has soon forgotten. Long is scheduled to give a free speech this coming Monday, October 10th to the business students and faculty. This is just one of the many things that Tom Long does to connect back to his roots. Long also holds a master’s degree in business from Harvard. His educational background makes him more than capable of running a prestigious company such as Miller-Coors, but it is his focus on community that has changed the face of the company. Long expresses his dedication to community by sitting on the Board of Directors of WolverineWorldwide, Milwaukee Boy & Girls Club of Milwaukee, and both the Chicagoland and Milwaukee Chambers of Commerce.
Tom Long has an extensive background before being named CEO of Miller-Coors. After Harvard, Long began his professional career with McCann-Erickson Advertising. His position there was rather short lived, and in 1988 he joined Coca-Cola in its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. He became a manager of market planning and after a few years he reached vice president of 7-Eleven Team Account Worldwide and shortly thereafter, Wal-Mart Global Team Account in 1995. Tom Long took on a number of positions and responsibilities in which he led Coke as a transnational organization. While at Coca-Cola, Long assumed Vice President of National Sales, Director of Marketing Research and Trends, and finally Vice President and Director of Strategic Marketing, where he ultimately handled Coke’s Global Brand Strategy. Following his success at Coca-Cola, Tom Long was adopted by Miller Brewing Company in 2005 as Chief Marketing Officer and then promoted to CEO from 2006 to 2008. After the joint venture between SABMiller and MolsonCoors, Long was President and Chief Commercial Officer before finally being named the new CEO of Miller-Coors Brewing Company
Personality:
As CEO of MillerCoors, Tom Long is one of the most influential people in the company. Though most find higher positioned people unapproachable and hard to communicate with Tom Long expresses the exact opposite. His southern background and personable attitude make his employees enjoy working for someone like him. With his extensive background we can easily assume that he is a hard-working and intellectual man with a passion to succeed. His many years at Coca-Cola Co. offered MillerCoors an experienced and insightful man who has already started making big changes to the company and is constantly offering new ideas for improvement. In a news release one of Long's co-workers said that "he is a savvy operator with a keen intellect and boundless energy." Though Long is driven and clearly focused on his new job and postion, he also finds time for family and enjoying himself. He is family orientated and even thinks finding ways to improve our environement is important. When defining Tom Long's personality in terms of "The Big Five," one of the most obvious traits is conscientiousness. His new improvements to the company and plans for the future prove he is a hard-working individual and organized. Being such a huge figure in the company Long is also extremely dependable. He could be defined as an extraversion, as well. Many of his ideas and plans come from interaction with other people and he is assertive in order to see the outcomes he wants. Tom Long could also be described as an agreeable person due to the fact that he is warm and cooperative. Being a good CEO means that one must also listen to his fellow co-workers and employees in order to have a productive and enjoyable work place. His background and ability to create new ideas also shows that he is open to experience. Being part of the Baby Boomers generation begins to explain Tom Long's extreme work-ethic and his drive to make MillerCoors the best it can be.
Motivation:
"The most satisfying wins are those driven by employees who find ways to make a real difference."
Tom Long expressed this ide
With Tom Long accepting the new position as CEO, MillerCoors is now in a period of rapid change and growth. His part in the expansion and growth of Coors Light and putting a hold on Miller Lite's decline has opened up a large amount of opportunities. This method of motivation can be reflected as "growth" in Alderfer's ERG theory and "self-actualization" in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. These are seen as opportunities to work with higher-ups or to work on projects that suit the individual's skills. With the future of MillerCoors looking as promising as it does, these ways of motivation will become more apparent and obvious as things continue to improve.
Leadership Style:
With Tom Long being recently introduced as MillerCoors CEO, he has not had that much time to express his leadership style with the company. Yet, with his short term thus far, he has changed the look of MillerCoors and many people are excited to see what the future holds. MillerCoors is one of the largest brewing companies in the US and continues to grow worldwide. With such a large company much is expected, Tom Long sees this as a challenge; he has been described as “A man who loves competition and the game of life”. This is extremely exciting for this company with a CEO that embraces challenges that arise and is constantly working through them as to improve the company. There are a lot of challenges in this economic downturn that the country is currently faced with, but MillerCoors is
staying positive and trying to find new ways to connect with their consumers. Tom Long is the type of leader that is poised for growth; he has already shown this through the recent joint venture with Coors Brewing Co. of Golden, Colorado. He worked tirelessly to merge the two companies. Tom Long is described at times to be playing it a bit safe, but you cannot truly blame him in rough times like this. There has already been a change in the marketing scheme of Miller, with the ads that are more modern and give miller a different look than before. He has had extensive familiarity in the strategic marking world with Coca-Cola Company which is why he can be seen as being open to experience.
Tom exemplifies the Big 5 of the personality trait in his position at MillerCoors. He is creative and cultured and he is open to exploring new ideas as he is new to this job. Tom Long is also agreeable as in the way he is cooperative, warm, agreeable, and listens to employees’ opinions. He displays a relaxed attitude that has most likely been built from his southern background, which is evident in his southern twang that he displays when he talks, giving you a sense of his calm, self-confident and cool exterior. He displays this emotional stability which is needed in a time of confusion in the financial world, you must be patient and ride out the storm knowing that you might hit a few bumps along the way. Mr. Long shows high self-esteem and shows his positive influence on the company in his interviews. Tom Long also values sustainability in the company’s future as evident in the article from GreenBiz.com where he discusses plans for the future to make MillerCoors an eco friendly community. He says, “sustainability is important to our employees. Our company attracts young people (for employment) for whom sustainability is a passion point. Sustainability is also progressively more important to our consumer base. Tom Long leads with purpose and strength, and his future in MillerCoors appears to be an intriguing one. He brings a charismatic attitude that values everyone’s opinion and strives for a better tomorrow.
MillerCoors Past:
MillerCoors began as two independent companies, Miller corporation and Coors Brewing. Both companies were started by german immigrants who came to the country and began brewing in the 19th century. Later, in 2008, the two companies merged to better compete with Anheuser Busch. In the pats MillerCoors has focused on building its core brands of Miller Lite, and Coors light, as well as its traditional brews.
In the 1970’s Miller corporation began marketing the calorie reduction, as well as the great taste. This policy was well received by consumers, as Miller choose to market the beer as something outside of a “diet beer”. Miller Lite is the company’s largest seller and is third in the beer market share rankings. It is through Miller Lite that Miller corporation was able to generate funds to market the rest of its lineup. (Baker, 2010)
Coors Light’s story is very similar to that of Miller Lite. Until 1978 Coors original was the only beer produced by the company. Then, in 1978 Coors Brewing Corporation introduced Coors Light, which was then called the “Silver Bullet”. It was through the popularity of the “Silver Bullet” that Coors Brewing was able to take off, and gain mainstream marketability. After the merger, Coors Light now ranks as the 4th most popular beer behind Miller Lite and both beers holding the Budweiser brand (Unknown, 1998).
Coors Brewing Company and Miller Company merged in 2008. South African owner SABMIller plc decided to merge the two companies. This did not mean one company was purchasing the other, but instead that both companies were becoming one company, MillerCoors. The breweries for both companies will remain open and Leo Kiely was named the original CEO. Kiely was known to have a keen eye for the beer industry and was seen as a positive leader. Tom long, who was then the COO of Miller Coors took the position eventually vacated by Kiely and is the current CEO of Miller Coors. (Daykin, 2007)
MillerCoors Future:
Tom Long takes of the throne of MillerCoors who’s mainstream beer industry has become slightly flat. Tom Long wants to prove that the mainstream beer industry can still be a popular thriving industry. Tom Long’s initiatives are to bring craft beer mainstream and become a leader in the segment, as well as focusing on the growth of its staple products such as Miller Lite,
Craft beer has become a marketplace which no longer can be ignored by the brewery giants. MillerCoor’s craft beer lineup includes such well known names as Blue Moon, and Leinenkugel. MillerCoors and Tom long recently initiated the “Tenth and Blake, which serves as a dedicated division for its craft and imported brands” (York, 2011). This is especially important since craft beer has seen steady gains in the marketplace while national brewery chains have seen declines, especially in their core unit of young males. Tom Long in response to the current brewing climate stated that many of the brands currently available will not always be available.
"[There] will not always be thousands and thousands of tiny brands," Long said, referring to the 1,700 brewers in the U.S. today. "Big brands will emerge, and they already have: Sam Adams and Fat Tire and others. Certainly Blue Moon fits into that category."
MillerCoors hopes that through strategic purchases it will be positioned to maintain a strong hold in the craft beer category.
MillerCoors also wants to maintain a focus on their core beers, specifically Miller Lite. While Coors Light has remained steady, Miller Lite has seen a decline. Tom Long stated that he would not be happy until Miller Lite begins to rebound and retake massive market share. To do this Long plans on keeping exciting packaging and news that will excite the consumer base, and drive up sales (SND, 2011).
Additional Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjOcKevHelw
http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?ticker=SAB:LN
http://www.millercoors.com/Home.aspx
References:
Baker, B. (2010, may 19). Miller lite beer: quick history. Retrieved from __http://www.mademan.com/mm/miller-lite-beer-quick-history.html__
Bloomberg newsweek. (2011, October 05). Retrieved from http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=10946205&ticker=SAB:LN&previousCapId=874078&previousTitle=SABMILLER PLC
Coors brewing company: celebrating 125 years of brewing excellence. (1998, April). Retrieved from __http://www.mademan.com/mm/miller-lite-beer-quick-history.html__
Daykin, T. (2007, October 10). Q&a on the miller-coors merger. Retrieved from http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/29298554.html
SBD. (2011, August 15). Millercoors looks to balance profit growth with volume and share gains.. Retrieved from __http://www.shankennewsdaily.com/index.php/2011/08/15/1390/millercoors-looks-to-balance-profit-growth-with-volume-and-share-gains/__
King, H. (2010, July 26). Millercoors' tom long. Retrieved from http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/07/26/view-c-suite-millercoors-tom-long
Millercoors: leadership team. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.millercoors.com/who-we-are/leadership/leadership-team.aspx
Millercoors names tom long new CEO. (2011, April 28). Retrieved from http://www.beerworkers.org/blog/millercoors-names-tom-long-new-ceo
York, E. (2011, August 2011). Millercoors ceo tom long seeks growth with craft beers. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/02/business/la-fi-millercoors-20110802